Franklin Page Mark Dictionary

SITED

June 10, 2004|By -- Kevin Hunt, Tech Editor (hunt@courant.com)

As bookmarks go, the Franklin Page Mark Dictionary is a genius, but it's not going to win any spelling bees.

The Page Mark ($50) is a clip-on bookmark with a pivoting display screen, a touchpad combining a keyboard with various commands, and access points to resources like a complete 80,000-word Merriam-Webster's dictionary, a databank to store names and numbers, a calculator and simple word games.

The Page Mark is an effective, if costly, tool that's difficult to stump. Type in a word on the tiny keyboard, then let the Page Mark go to work.

``Seabiscuit: An American Legend,'' for instance, did not challenge the Page Mark's databank. Firebreak? No problem: ``cleared land for checking forest fire. OK, then, how about a few entries from a recent vocabulary bee. The Page Mark hit on only four of six words. It knew caldera (colder), defalcate (embezzlement), jejune (dull) and mulct (fine), but misfired on compurgation and geoduck.

For those, I consulted a hardcover Webster's (price: less than $20). You can look those up, too, the old-fashioned way.

The Page Mark can do more than a dictionary, but not so much to justify a $50 retail price. At a deep discount, however, it's a convenient tool for the recreational reader and particularly the younger reader who wants to improve his vocabulary.